Hiding alone
Barty’s POV
Barty’s frustration at himself quickly turned to anger. The ‘deadline’ of a month had been and gone, his father choosing to leave him to deal with the situation, brushing him under the rug while the votes poured in.
Everyday they worked on standing and walking, pushing his limits and begging his body to remember and heal. Almost everyday.
His mental state had taken a dive. Confined to a bed in the hospital wing, away from his friends, no classes or extracurriculars to take his mind off things. Everytime a little more freedom seemed to be within his grasp his traitorous brain refused to cooperate. Of course the one part of his life that was unaffected was his seizures! What fucking shitty luck!
Every time he thought about it Barty was brought to the edge of the abyss. Days spent alone, visitors restricted to allow him to rest sent him spiraling further and further into his own self hatred.
The will to keep going seemed to be abandoning him. What was the point? He was never going to get better. His mind was fucked, his brain was broken and his body had given up.
As another weekend passed in isolation Barty felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes. He felt more alone than ever before.
When had he forgotten that he was a burden on others? When had he allowed the sweet lies of his fellow Slytherin’s to get through his armor? When did he start ignoring his father’s reminders that he would never be loved or wanted?
Refusing to try in his rehabilitation became the norm. He could tell something was about to change but he couldn’t bring himself to care. They were almost three months in but his progress had slammed on the brakes.
No matter how quiet they believed they were being, Barty had heard their plans to discharge him. Due to the amount of stairs around the castle if he refused to try and walk they had no choice but to send him away.
The original plans seemed to be to send him home. But his father refused. Now the plan was hopefully to send him to St. Mungos.
With time he hoped his boys moved on, if they hadn’t already. He wasn’t spending the rest of his life bed bound in another hospital. He was done with trying and he wanted out.
He waited until everyone around him was asleep before pulling out the sleeping tablets he had been hiding under his pillow. He had passed them up for the last couple of weeks choosing to keep them until he needed them. Originally planning to use them to sleep his days away the plan had quickly morphed into something more sinister as he was left with just himself for company.
Taking the glass of water from the table next to the bed he swallowed down the handful of tablets before laying on his side and closing his eyes to wait. Hopefully his shit job of a body wouldn’t bounce back this time.